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Assignment: Earth (episode)
The Enterprise travels back in time to 1968, where the crew encounters the mysterious Gary Seven who claims to be sent by advanced beings trying to help Earth. (Season finale) Summary Teaser *''Captain’s log. Using the light-speed breakaway factor, the Enterprise has moved back through time to the 20th Century. We are now in extended orbit around Earth, using our ship's deflector shields to remain unobserved. Our mission - historical research. We are monitoring Earth communications to find out how our planet survived desperate problems in the year ... 1968. '' The ''Enterprise'' has used the light-speed breakaway factor to travel back in time on a historical fact-finding mission. It monitors Earth communications to study how the Earth survived the turbulent year 1968. While in orbit, the Enterprise accidentally intercepts a transporter beam that originates more than a thousand light years away, beaming aboard interplanetary agent Gary Seven and his partner Isis, disguised as a black cat. Act One *''Captain’s log, supplemental. A man in a 20th Century business suit - what is he? Not even Spock's Vulcan neck pinch could stop him. Without our phasers, he would have overpowered all five of us. I find it difficult to believe the mysterious Mr. Seven can be human. And yet, suppose he is? '' Seven discovers that the Enterprise is from the future, and demands to be beamed down to continue with his mission. Seven claims he is a human from the twentieth century who has been living on a different planet, which wishes to remain hidden (even in Kirk's time). Kirk confines Seven to a detention cell until he can learn more. Seven overpowers the guards and resists the Vulcan Nerve Pinch from Spock, but is stunned by Kirk with a phaser. Seven soon escapes again using a device disguised as a pen called a "servo" to deactivate the force field and put the guard to sleep. He is rejoined by Isis on his way to the transporter room, and beams down before Kirk can stop him. Act Two Seven materializes inside a transporter chamber concealed behind a sliding rack of glasses in what appears to be an otherwise normal office. Using a Beta 5 computer (capable of analytical decision) that is hidden behind a bookcase, Seven learns that his fellow agents 201 and 347 have not reported their locations in the past 3 days. In order to access the computer, Seven (a class 1 supervisor also known as Supervisor 194) summarizes the nature of his mission. Agents are the descendants of humans taken from the Earth in 4000 BCE and specially engineered and trained for the mission of preventing Earth from destroying itself before it can become a peaceful society. According to the computer, this is necessary because science and technology have progressed faster than political and social knowledge on Earth. Seven learns that the agents' mission was to disable a rocket that will launch an American orbiting nuclear platform which is a countermove to an opposing country about to do the same. Seven compares this arms race to the one which almost resulted in the destruction of planet Omicron IV. Roberta Lincoln, a secretary hired by Seven's fellow agents shows up late for work. Seven mistakes her for one of the agents and shares some of his secret gadgetry with her, including a voice-activated typewriter. Seven, realizing his mistake, convinces her that he is a CIA agent, and that she should remain silent about what she has seen in the interests of national security. The Beta 5 reveals that agents 201 and 347 were killed in an automobile accident 10 miles north of McKinley Rocket Base on Highway 940. Kirk and Spock (who have beamed down in an attempt to locate Seven) barge into the office and are stalled by Lincoln long enough to allow Seven and Isis to escape into the safe/transporter. Seven rematerializes inside the rocket base and observes the rocket which is armed with the warhead. Act Three Roberta calls the police to the office. When the police arrive, Kirk beams everyone up to the Enterprise, then immediately returns the policemen to the office. At the rocket base, Seven is seen by a security guard as Seven approaches launch control. The guard demands identification and Seven produces his CIA ID. While the guard is calling to verify, Seven stuns the guard with his servo and tells the called party everything is now OK. Seven then makes his way to the gantry elevator by hiding the trunk of the launch director's car. When the car arrives at the launch pad, he exits the trunk, hides in the elevator, reaches a gantry, removes an access panel with his servo and begins to rewire the rocket. Meanwhile, Kirk, Spock and Scotty, while in the transporter room, search for Seven at the launch site by bouncing their sensors off a low-orbit weather satellite. Unable to find him, Kirk and Spock decide to beam down to the base to search for Seven the old fashioned way. They materialize in front of the previously stunned guard as he awakens. They are taken into custody by the guard and escorted to the control room in the launch complex. They are briefly interrogated, but all attention focuses on the launch preparations. Kirk and Spock stand there helpless. Meanwhile, Lincoln accidentally discovers that depressing a pen on the desk opens the sliding glass rack. She then fiddles with the combination lock to the safe and succeeds in opening the safe/alien transporter room. At the same time, using the ships sensors, Scotty locates Seven on the rocket gantry while he is manipulating wires on the rocket. Scotty calls for security and then attempts to beam him up. At the same time, Lincoln's fiddling with the safe/alien transporter controls pulls him back to the NYC office. In the launch facility, Kirk and Spock watch helplessly as the countdown progresses. *''Captain's log, supplemental. Spock and I in custody. Even if we'd talk, they wouldn't believe us. We're powerless to stop Mr. Seven or prevent the launch, or even be certain if we should. I have never felt so helpless.'' In the office, Seven works at the Beta 5 computer. He inquires whether he did enough to take control of the rocket and Beta 5 confirms he does. In the launch facility, Kirk and Spock watch as the countdown ends and the rocket with the orbital warhead platform blasts into space. Act Four Seven uses the Beta 5 exceiver circuits to cause the third stage of the American rocket to malfunction and veer off course. He also arms the warhead, and is shortly thereafter hit on the head by Roberta. The arming of the warhead is noted by Chekov aboard the Enterprise as Scotty attempts to contact Kirk for instructions. When the communicator beeps and the rocket base guard picks it up, Spock uses the Vulcan Nerve Pinch to render the guard unconscious. Scotty is ordered to beam Kirk and Spock to Seven's office. They watch while Seven explodes the warhead 104 miles above ground. Records from the Enterprise show that exactly such an event occurred, and that it furthermore caused the nuclear powers to re-assess the risks of a nuclear orbiting platform. Memorable Quotes "Well, how do you expect me to type, with my nose? Did you see that? The machine typed everything I – It's typing everything I'm saying! Stop it. Stop it! Stop it!" : - Roberta Lincoln "Without facts, the decision cannot be made logically. You must rely on your human intuition." : - Spock "Hold it Mr. Seven. I'm telling you, you're through monkeying around with my country's rockets." : - Roberta Lincoln Background Information * The plot concept of beneficial aliens secretively helping earthlings, as opposed to the much more common "villian aliens" senarios, was later resurrected by Roddenberry for his The Questor Tapes movie. * According to the Star Trek Compendium, the first draft script (dated ) had the Enterprise bridge crew watching an episode of Bonanza on the view screen. * Seven and Lincoln have appeared in several Star Trek novels (Assignment: Eternity and the two-volume series, The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh by Greg Cox) and short stories ("Seven and Seven" by Kevin Hosey in Strange New Worlds VI and "Assignment: One" by Kevin Lauderdale in Strange New Worlds VIII). *The scene of Scotty beaming Gary Seven on board is taken from "The Enemy Within." * This is the only episode of Star Trek in which time travel is treated as "routine". The Temporal Prime Directive doesn't seem to have been created yet. * Gary Seven's Beta 5 computer contains many components from the M-5 in "The Ultimate Computer". It would be recycled yet again for All Our Yesterdays. * In a sad prediction, just after this episode was aired there was indeed an important assassination, that of Martin Luther King on April 4, 1968. * The coincidence goes beyond King's assassination: Spock mentions that the same day the US is launching an orbital nuclear warhead platform there will also be an important assassination. The missile shown in the episode is actually stock footage of the launch of Apollo 4, the first unmanned test of a Saturn V. Less than a week after the episode's first airing Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated the same day as the launch of Apollo 6, the second unmanned test of a Saturn V. Spock's other "prediction" of a government coup in Asia did not happen that day. * Watch for William Blackburn as a rocket control room technician in this episode, one of the few times he is seen out of a Starfleet uniform. * An extremely interesting effect is used for the transporter as Seven is beamed aboard for the first time- slow motion flames can be seen behind the opaque back wall of the chamber. This was probably created using a rear projection. * Robert Lansing (Gary Seven) is the only Star Trek: The Original Series guest star whose credit appears after the opening credits instead of during the end credits. * This episode takes place entirely in 1968, with no scenes in the 23rd Century. Along with ENT: "Storm Front" (which takes place in 1944), this is one of only two Star Trek episodes based entirely in the 20th Century. * The Enterprise doors behave very strangely in this episode: In TNG: "In Theory", Data once claimed that the doors were programmed to only respond to Humanoid signatures, but on two occasions do they open for Isis the cat. Interestingly, they don't open all the way, just about a foot, for her to fit through. * Teri Garr had a very unpleasant time filming this episode, perhaps stemming from Gene Roddenberry's involvement in decisions regarding her costume. In interviews since, she has refused to talk about 'Star Trek' in any way. *The events of this episode, which take place in 1968, occurred (from the point of view from the Enterprise crew) over a year after those of "Tomorrow is Yesterday" which take place in 1969. * The rocket storage buildings at the Rocket base were studio buildings on the Paramount lot, with NASA footage of Apollo rockets matted in above them. In a wonderful attention to detail, Launch Director Cromwell's car matches the car seen in one of the stock footage sequences. * The address of Gary Seven's headquarters isn't that far from the fictional address of Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, who also lived on East 68th Street. 811 East 68th Street is an address that only exists in Brooklyn, NY at this time. Assignment: Earth (TV Series) This episode was designed partly as a pilot for a new series featuring Gary Seven and his mission. The first draft pilot script ( ) had no mention of Star Trek or its characters, and the intended series never reached production. First draft script , filmed early January, late February 1968. Links and References Main cast * William Shatner as Kirk * Leonard Nimoy as Spock * DeForest Kelley as McCoy * James Doohan as Scott * George Takei as Sulu * Nichelle Nichols as Uhura * Walter Koenig as Chekov Guest stars * Robert Lansing as Gary Seven * Teri Garr as Roberta Lincoln * Don Keefer as Cromwell * Morgan Jones as Colonel Jack Nesvig * Lincoln Demyan as Lipton * Paul Baxley as Security Chief * Barbara Babcock as Beta 5 computer (voice) * Ted Gehring as Police officer * Bruce Mars as Charlie * Victoria Vetri as Isis in human form (uncredited) References 1968; 20th century; Agent 201; Agent 347; Asia; Beta 5 computer; cat; CIA; colonel; day; Earth, exceiver; FBI; H-bomb; highway 949; history; hour; human history; intelligence quotient; Isis; light-speed breakaway factor; McKinley Rocket Base; meter; mile; minute; nuclear weapon; Omicron IV; orbit; orbital platform; police; pound; rocket; satellite; second; secretary; sergeant; servo; Supervisor 194; Temporal Mechanics; United States of America; warhead; weather satellite; year; World War III External links * Category:TOS episodes de:Ein Planet, genannt Erde es:Assignment: Earth fr:Assignment: Earth nl:Assignment: Earth